The invention concerns a power electronic arrangement which is provided with an insulating substrate, a cooling element arranged beneath the insulating substrate and at least one power electronic component which is disposed on one side of the insulating substrate in opposite relationship to the cooling element on a metallisation surface of the insulating substrate.
An arrangement of that kind is known from DE 33 36 979 A1. The thyristor module described therein has an insulating substrate of aluminum oxide provided on both sides with a metallisation layer. The upwardly disposed metallisation layer is structured appropriately for the circuitry involved and is connected to electrode plates of a thyristor chip and a diode chip by way of a solder connection. The oppositely disposed, underneath metallisation layer is connected to a cooling body comprising a metal plate, by way of a solder connection.
A semiconductor arrangement of that kind is also described in DE 36 43 288 C2. The semiconductor component of modular structure described therein has a module wafer with an insulating plate provided on both sides with metallisations and arranged on a cooling body serving as a carrier body. Arranged on the side of the insulating plate, that is opposite to the cooling body, are semiconductor elements, for example diodes, transistors and thyristors, but also semiconductor-based resistors and/or capacitors. The cooling body is in the form of a plate-shaped or block-shaped cooling body which can also involve separate external cooling.
Furthermore it is known for separate external cooling of a cooling body for a semiconductor arrangement to be implemented by the cooling body having a cooling agent flowing therethrough, whereby the power electronic device is cooled by way of the laminate structure.
A disadvantage with the solutions known at the present time for directly cooled electronic power modules is the relatively large number of layers, made up of materials involving different thermal coefficients of expansion. The semiconductor elements are disposed on a metal layer portion which in turn is disposed on an insulating substrate connected by way of a further metal layer portion laminated thereto and a solder, to a metallic base plate having an afflux flow of cooling agent thereto. That results in a reduced cycle strength and thus a reduced service life.